Sophomore Kyndal Clark (Webb City, Mo.) finished with an
outstanding overall stat line with 11 points, six rebounds, six steals and five
assists. Guard Carly Grenfell (York, Neb.), who came into the night
second in the nation in three-pointing shooting at 63.6 percent, hit three
three-pointers to finish with nine points.

Drake finished a season-high 83.3 percent (15-of-18) from the foul line
and 42.9 percent (21-of-49) from the floor tonight as they improve to 3-4 on
the season.

The Bison were led in scoring by Jamie Van Kirk with 12 points as the
loss drops their record to 3-6 on the season. Van Kirk made three treys in the
first half but was held to just three points in the second half. Katie Birkel had
11 points for the Bison.

A pair of
layups by Reid gave Drake a 4-0 lead to start the game before three straight three-pointers
by Van Kirk helped North Dakota State take an 11-9 advantage going into the
first media timeout. However, out of the timeout the Bulldogs ripped off a 10-0
run to go ahead 21-11 and forced the Bison to use its first timeout of the
night. Grenfell knocked down a pair of treys in the scoring run and the
Bulldogs never trailed again in the game.

"Morgan
and Steph (Running) did a great job on the low block for us tonight," Drake
head coach Jennie Baranczyk said. "They
helped open things up on the outside for our shooters (Kyndal, Alyssa, Carly).
Plus we stepped up to the foul line and did a great job of knocking them down
tonight."

Drake shot
53.8 percent (14-of-26) from the field in the first half as they held a 34-20
lead at halftime. Reid led the Bulldogs with 11 points and four rebounds at the
break. Two steals and an assist rounded out her stat line. Seven Bulldogs
scored in the half and limited the Bison to just 8-of-30 (26.7 percent)
shooting in the opening half.

North Dakota
State staged a rally to start the second half and cut the Bulldogs' lead to
39-36 after a layup by Dani Degagne with 10:42 left in the game but Drake
answered with a three-point play by Alyssa Marschner (Plymouth, Minn.) to
extend its lead to 41-36.

Birkel's layup
with 5:47 to go cut Drake's lead to four points again, 47-43, but Drake once
again answered. This time with four straight points by freshman Ashley Bartow (Sun Prairie, Wis.) to build an eight-point lead, 51-43, with just less
than five minutes to play. Bartow finished with seven points, two rebounds and hit
a crucial three late in the game and all in just nine minutes of play.

"Ashley
helps us look like a different team when she comes off the bench with her aggressiveness
and her tenacity," Baranczyk said. "She needs to clean up her defense some as
evident by those couple of bad fouls she picked up late but that three-pointer
she hit was big. We had been struggling a bit offensively and for her to knock
that down was great."

The Bulldogs
will travel to Grand Forks, N.D. to face North Dakota (2-4) on Saturday
afternoon. Tip-off is set for 2:05 p.m. at the Betty Engelstad Sioux Center. Live
stats will be available at www.GoDrakeBulldogs.com and be sure to tune into Ric
Silvestrini on KRNT-1350 to listen to the action.